Tonight I had to eat at McDonalds for dinner because it was the only thing open once I got back from a high school graduation ceremony. Dinner at McDonalds sucks ass for vegetarians because about all we can eat is French fries and an apple pie. That would be awesome if I was 16, but now it just guarantees a night of gastroenterological distress.

This is the first graduation ceremony I've been to in over 20 years and nothing has changed. As I was listening to the cheesy speeches with all the appropriate empowerment buzzwords ("BELIEVE IN YOURSELF!"), it occurred to me that if you took every student graduation speech from every school in the USA and analyzed them, they'd all have the exact same words... just shuffled around in a different order. I suppose that there is only so many ways you can say "THE FUTURE IS WHAT YOU MAKE IT!" which is going to make any kind of sense.

Oh well. Congratulations to the Class of 2009! If you made it to graduation, you managed to limit your drug and alcohol use enough to pass the sub-standard requirements from our failing education system... so best of luck to you!

Meanwhile, the pussification of America continues...

I learned something at graduation that disturbs me greatly. The school had co-principals. The class had co-presidents. I'm guessing the cheerleading squad had co-captains and the football team had co-quarterbacks. Remember when there was a winner and a loser and that was it? It was just like life. Except now it's co-everything because striving for mediocrity is the best we can do. "Co-President" and "Co-Principal" is so much easier than having a subordinate "Vice President" and "Vice Principal" because responsibility is divided up and pushed around so nobody loses.

At my kids’ school, they don’t have any game with losers at ALL. They freakin’ banned them, can you believe that? They have tether ball on the playground, but you can’t play to “win”, no board games, nothing. Last year, they even divided themselves from the sports programs. They literally said no to them, and all programs were transferred to the town rec department. They’re also fighting one of the parents who wants to start a chess club for the same reason.

Yeah, losing stinks – but seriously? Get over it. You aren’t always going to be the best, but sometimes you CAN win and it’s worth trying for; both so you can learn to win as gracefully as you learn to lose.

Hey – I’m starting a new blog and want to know of you want to co-blog with me. We will write entries together and get a committee to vote on whether or not we should post them. But the votes will be anonymous so there’s no tension. The first post will be titled “Believe in yourself.”

Did McD’s have the apple stickers? They are awesome with caramel sauce. If you have to eat there again, have those instead of the apple pie…soooo goood. Hopefully, the caramel won’t mess with your body.

::mind wanders::

As for our failing education system, I feel for my future non-existent children, because our society is pretty much setting them up for failure the way our education system is going nowadays. We can’t compete with kids from other countries anymore because our school curriculums are not rigorous enough anymore. Part of me wants to teach just to try and improve things somewhat. But when I think about all the politics you have to deal with to even teach in NY State, it turns me off.

As co-writer of Blogography, I take offense at your statements and are therefore entitled to get rich off of your efforts. Send a money order asap or my ACLU lawyers will have you shut down for failing to adhere to strict Fairness and Equal Outcome Guidelines.

I knew I should have put a legal disclaimer on my blog stating that all comments left become my intellectual property. Though, given how utterly brilliant I am, it should be a given that anything commented that’s of any value would be something that I probably would have thought of anyway.

I love your comments about the pussification of our youth.
Soccer teams, baseball teams, cheerleading, etc – ALL kid make them now, because god forbid anyone practice to get BETTER or anything to make it the next time around.
Gah I don’t even need to get started on this topic!

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